Each block is stacked on top of the previous one. Adding another block to the top makes all lower blocks more difficult to remove: there is more "weight" above each block. A transaction in a block 6 blocks deep (6 confirmations) will be very difficult to remove.

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I maintain that without the legal fiction of a company they could not. Companies are not real things, they are legal fictions.

They externalize cost, through government, without government they could not function more efficiently.

If you've ever been involved in a co-op, they tend to operate extremely inefficiently.

If you're arguing that corporations as we know them would not exist without government, I completely agree with you. Subsidized security is the best thing the state has to offer the mega corporation. The more geographically dispersed resources you have, the more benefit you gain from having the state protect those resources, versus if you had to explicitly pay to have them protected. That said, if there were no state, I don't think the world would turn into an anarcho-socialist commune. I think you would see the large corporations dissolve or break up into smaller businesses, some of which might be run by the workers.

Babylon, gene...

It seemed earlier like you guys were arguing for the state, now it seems like you're arguing against it, and for something like anarcho-socialism. If that is the case, why are we arguing? We both agree that society would be better served without a state. The only difference is that you think the best society is one where there is no private ownership of property (MoP), whereas we do. If you try to enforce your opinion on how society should form lacking a state, how are you acting any differently than the state itself? Lacking states, there will be more than enough room in this world for all sorts of different voluntary organizations of society.

Different sorts of Anarchists often seem to be arguing for a state when debating since we have different ideas as to what constitutes bad power.

The main reason that, IMO, Capitalist and Socialist anarchists need to keep debating is that I doubt that corporations would simply wither away if the framework of government were removed. Yes, a Democratic government is far from an ideal solution, and yes the corporations do capture it and use it to enrich themselves. However it is still preferable to the corporations ruling directly, which is what will happen if they are left in possession of all the resources that they currently possess without the government to keep them in line.

I have no problem with market anarchists, in fact I am one, as are many of you who label yourself capitalist, but as long as there is support for ownership of capital determining production, rather than actual use of production determining production then there is support for government.

I have no problem with market anarchists, in fact I am one, as are many of you who label yourself capitalist, but as long as there is support for ownership of capital determining production, rather than actual use of production determining production then there is support for government.

So, back to the Austrian economics study group.... If anyone is still paying attention to this thread and is still interested I would recommend either "The Case Against the Fed" by Murray Rothbard or "Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlett. I realize these are "introductory" books and not full-fledged Austrian classics, but as the previous attempt aimed too high perhaps this is the best way to start. These books are not too long nor very heavy reading and yet have excellent applicable concepts. Let me know if anyone is on board with this.

I still suggest Lessons for a Young Economist, now available in HTML too here. I really think that it is better to learn about praxeology first and start small before really tackling the problems we have today. Certain philosophical doctrines are so dominant today that people are unable to even consider that we could get genuine scientific knowledge from the social sciences, so I think it goes a long way to see why what we're doing is scientific and not just mere opinion or wordplay.

I've already suggested even simplier, by recommending Whatever Happened to Penny Candy from the Uncle Eric series, which is also based on praxeology, but no one would bite.

"The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."

I would be fine with "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy". I'm just very poor so was trying to find books I knew were free online in PDF form. However, it is possible my local library would have a copy I can check out. Let's do it. I keep getting more and more opportunities to argue with Keynsianists and Statists. I need to fill in the holes in my Austrian education. I will find a copy somewhere I can read. We can discuss it focusing on praxeology and then move on to something a little more complicated. Let's DO this. Who's in?

If the library doesn't have it, request it through inter-library loan.

"The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."

When I teach my PhD course in the Austrian Theory of the Market Process I assign four required books that in my opinion students must master to make a contribution to the this literature --- Mises, Human Action; Hayek, Individualism and Economic Order; Kirzner, Competition and Entrepreneurship; and Rothbard, Man, Economy and State.